Construction and Action
Who Was Involved?
Beginning operation in 1973, the Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant was built by the Northern States Power Company, which would go on to become a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, on land bought from the US Army Corps of Engineers, who to this day own and operate Lock and Dam #3.
(NSP 1968)
Nuclear Waste
From what we could find in the archives, waste storage wasn’t publicly mentioned by NSP until well after the plant began operation. The April 1969 four page letter, To The Employees of Northern States Power Company written by Chairman of the Board Earl Ewald dedicated the entirety of page 2 to describing how nuclear waste is to be treated before being reintroduced back into the environment in the Monticello plant.
Interestingly, the next page is dedicated to complaining about the costs of measures to eliminate gaseous nuclear discharges, a process described as “so cumbersome and expensive that it is ridiculous.” The final page concerns “The real core of the opposition argument,” which Ewald describes as “simply a scarce type argument that adds nothing to the consideration of the question by reasonable people.” While this article mainly concerns the Monticello Plant’s operation and opposition, it can be assumed that the Chairman of the Board and NSP as a whole would carry the same attitude towards nuclear waste and protests about its handling when dealing with the Prairie Island Nuclear Plant.
The fact that these details are being discussed only within NSP and not being revealed to the public that interacts with the plant (oftentimes non-consensually) is a statement to NSP’s pattern of hiding knowledge about the safety of the plant from the public.
(NSP 1969 – TO THE EMPLOYEES OF THE NORTHERN STATES POWER COMPANY)
The first public mention of the storage and processing of nuclear materials can be seen in the, Prairie Island Fact Card, a pamphlet distributed to the communities that surround the plant sometime in the 1990s by NSP. The storage of nuclear waste is detailed in the section, “Dry Cask Storage”. These casks meant to store spent nuclear fuel are described as “durable enough to last indefinitely”, with the caveat that they will only be stored there until the US Department of Energy creates a needed national spent fuel repository.
(NSP 1990-2000 – Prairie Island Fact Card)
A description of how nuclear waste is handled can also be seen in the booklet also distributed by NSP to communities surrounding their plants, Nuclear Power at NSP. In the publication, the belief that the safe disposal of radioactive waste is impossible is labeled as a “MYTH”, with NSPs “FACT” following it.
The Technological Sublime from the Perspective of NSP
On the first page of the letter TO THE EMPLOYEES OF THE NORTHERN STATES POWER COMPANY, Ewald states that, “The Monticello Nuclear Plant is one of the over 100 such plants being built throughout the United States and the world.” This is likely meant to instill in the employees a belief that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. This NSP publication has the intention of conveying to the reader (NSP Employees) how NSP is advancing the future of America and ushering in a new global technological age.
Preparing the Surrounding Communities for Potential Disaster
A report to the people of the Twin Cities area on NSP’s Monticello Plant aims to convey to the people of the Twin Cities and areas surrounding it the procedures to take in the event of a nuclear accident and how they would be informed. Note how the possibility of an explosion is completely ruled out.
